Chapter 2 – Two Yandere 【2】

My kouhai, Kobayashi Eri, is a girl as cute as a doll.

Standing at roughly 150 cm with a small frame, a modest chest, and large eyes that shine like obsidian, she radiates the innocent charm of a young child. Her shoulder-length black hair and neatly trimmed bangs make her look even younger.
Her pale skin is flawless and immaculate, almost seeming to glow faintly.

Whenever she asks me for something, she gazes up at me with upturned eyes, staring deeply into mine, and always recites the same line in that adorable voice of hers.
“Sugar-senpai, please help me!”
Yes, just like right now.

Even for someone who isn’t into younger girls, her mannerisms are more than enough to trigger protective instincts.
If I had those kinds of preferences or hobbies, I might have locked this miraculous existence away somewhere and carefully preserved her until she became a legal loli.
So that innocent heart of hers would never be tainted.

Of course, I don’t have those kinds of hobbies.
Besides, I think she’s a bit heavy.

By heavy, I don’t mean she’s fat. If anything, she’s alarmingly light.
What I find heavy is her purity.

For example: spending two years agonizing over feelings for a senpai she liked without realizing they were romantic; finally becoming aware of her own love but lacking the courage to confess, so constantly observing her beloved senpai’s every move from a distance; wanting to feel her beloved senpai’s body warmth but being too embarrassed to hold his hand, so secretly wearing that senpai’s gym clothes in an empty classroom when no one’s around—and so on.

Come to think of it, my connection with her began that day.
That winter day last year when I encountered Eri in an empty classroom, hugging my gym clothes and sniffing them.

Stated like that, I’m sure this will be wildly misunderstood, so let me correct it right away.
This story is simply about me lending my gym clothes to the senpai she likes, and her mistaking my gym clothes for his.

I’m extremely ordinary, so I don’t suit this miraculous existence.
I think she’d be better suited to another miraculous existence.

For instance, the senpai she’s been stalking—no, pining for—for over two and a half years: Shimura, the president of the game development club I belong to.
It’s definitely not that I’m avoiding her because her love is terrifying.

Oops, my thoughts are running long. I should at least hear out my cute kouhai’s request.
Well, knowing Eri and her obsession with President Shimura, there’s a ninety percent chance this is about him anyway.
But before that, let me correct one thing.

“Hey, Eri-chan. I keep telling you this, but my name is Suzuki Sugar Satou. My parents gave me this precious name hoping I’d become a man like sugar. Of course, in this case, ‘a man like sugar’ means a man who’s kind to others and considerate of women, not a spineless pushover. Anyway, could you please call me ‘Satou-senpai’ from now on?”
“But Sugar-senpai is Sugar-senpai, right? That’s how it was written on the emergency contact list too.”
“No, it’s written as ‘Sugar’ but read as ‘Satou.’ It’s a combination of the most common surname in the country and the second most common one. In other words, it’s not an exaggeration to say it’s the epitome of ordinariness. In fact, I’m super ordinary.”

At that, Eri’s eyes widened and her mouth opened slightly.
Apparently something surprised her. What on earth could have surprised her?

“Huh? Ordinary? Senpai is?”

Eri asked this while alternating her gaze between the monitor and my face.
Following her line of sight to the monitor, I saw a scene of a naked Hanako crying out in despair.

…Admittedly, this might be a somewhat stimulating scene for Eri.
Especially the nudity being bad for her eyes. As I thought, the fourth-floor boss was completely useless.
I sighed and began making excuses.

“Listen. You’re under a serious misunderstanding right now. The only reason I was playing that game was because I wanted to understand the artistic merit of the work that won Ryonacon, not because I enjoyed playing it.”

Unfortunately, my excuse was completely rejected.

“No, ordinary people don’t make things like that in the first place, and even if they did, I don’t think they’d take second place… Plus, senpai’s scenario is abnormal! And yet it got second place… I wonder if the person who made the first-place game can even function in daily life. Anyway, I seriously agonized over my relationship with you!”

Her frank words were a surprisingly big shock to me.
In this world, being too frank makes it hard to succeed.
She might need training in hiding her true feelings someday.
Actually, I don’t think I should be lectured about this by a stalker in the first place.

Ah, I misspoke. She’s definitely not a stalker. She’s a maiden in love.
Something feels off about that too, but let’s go with it.
Ordinary people don’t become friends with stalkers or give them relationship advice, after all.

—Confirming compatibility factor. Second factor: student or working adult who thinks they’re ordinary but actually isn’t—confirmed.

This topic is getting a bit awkward. Let’s change the subject.
Eri is simple—no, pure—so if I throw her a lifeline, I’m sure she’ll grab on immediately.

“Well, anyway, what is it this time?”
“Oh! That’s right!”

As expected, she looked up at me with teary eyes and immediately latched onto the topic.
Behavior exactly as predicted. She really is pure and simple.
Still, teary eyes are an unusual pattern. What on earth happened?

“Sugar-senpai, this is terrible! Renka-senpai is going to confess to Shimura-senpai! In twenty minutes, under the legendary tree!”

The content surprised me.

Itou Renka.
Shimura’s classmate and Eri’s romantic rival.

In every way except gender, she’s the exact opposite of Eri.
If Eri evokes the innocent purity of a young child, she exudes the allure of a mature woman.

An exquisite body line with a slim waist yet curves in all the right places, model-like height, and a lively personality that makes her the mood-maker.
Her brightly dyed hair emphasizes her vibrant impression, and her natural makeup combined with a skirt shortened within school regulations emphasizes her sex appeal.
Add to that her aggressive approaches toward the president.

It’s the complete opposite of Eri, who secretly watches the president from the shadows and only talks to photos of him rather than the president himself.
They’re both supposed to be maidens in love, yet what accounts for this difference?

…Well, it’s that thing. “Love takes many forms.”
It was my cute kouhai’s voice that brought me back to reality from this self-rationalization.

“Wh-what should I do? At this rate, he’ll be stolen from me!”

I calmed her down.

“Just calm down. Don’t worry. There’s no way you’ll have your senpai stolen.”

Because you and senpai are just in a club president-member relationship.

However, it seems Eri misunderstood the meaning of my words.
Her eyes lit up as she showed an expression of relief. This is the expression of someone who believes I’ll break through this romantic crisis for her.

Well, it’s not unreasonable.
After all, I have a track record of fulfilling all her wishes until now.

For example, the voice recordings of the president that Eri listens to every night before bed were recorded by me, and the photos of the president she looks at every day were also taken and gifted by me.
On Valentine’s Day, I supported her in giving the president store-bought premium chocolates, and in return received handmade chocolates from her with her thanks (of course, I returned the favor threefold on White Day).

I was also the one who invited her to join the game development club, providing opportunities to see the president up close.
After that, I told the president about Eri’s birthday, and we held a birthday party together.
My cute kouhai suits smiles best, but at that moment I thought “a crying face looks good on her too.”
There were various other romance consultations and so on.

Having supported her love life in so many different ways, she probably believes I’ll do something about it this time too.

…But this time I can’t do anything. I can’t very well interfere with Renka-senpai’s confession.
Well, I’ll at least go to the confession location.

“The confession location is under that legendary tree?”
“Yes. Renka-senpai told me so.”

…Renka-senpai did?

That was unexpected.
With a woman’s intuition, she should have already noticed. That Eri harbors romantic feelings for the president.
So why did she deliberately reveal the confession location?

Is the location “under the legendary tree” a lie, and she actually plans to confess somewhere else?
Or does she have absolute confidence her confession will succeed?

Certainly, if the confession succeeds, my kouhai will give up on her love.
Stealing someone else’s lover is too high a hurdle for Eri, a romance beginner.

Well, there’s no point just thinking about it.
I’ll go check it out. A confession isn’t guaranteed to succeed.

But if the confession succeeds and Renka-senpai becomes the president’s girlfriend… then I’ll think of a way to comfort Eri.
Thinking this, we left the club room.

◆ ◆ ◆

The legendary tree: high-risk, high-return, where a successful confession under it supposedly makes you the ultimate couple, but failure supposedly dooms you to a loveless life until death.
When we arrived, there was no one yet under that tree that calls to mind stock market investing.

I installed a bug in an appropriate spot on the tree and hid behind another tree in the distance.
I operated the device to check, and the sensitivity was good.

Before long, I heard the sound of footsteps approaching. Two sets of footsteps.
One belonged to President Shimura. I’m certain because I always listen to them with Eri.
Then the other must be Renka-senpai’s.
As I analyzed the footsteps, the walking stopped and conversation began.

“So Renka, what did you want to tell me?”

After a brief silence at the president’s question, Renka-senpai confessed in a trembling voice.

“I’ve liked you for a long time, Shimura-kun! Please go out with me.”

Eri gasped and grabbed my clothes.

What was Eri thinking at that moment? Was she praying the confession would fail?
If so, her prayer was granted. The next moment, President Shimura spoke.

Yes, he said it. That one phrase that changed all our fates.

“Sorry. I’m only interested in yandere.”

And so Renka-senpai failed at stock market investing. High-risk indeed.
And the four of us headed toward a bad ending.

Thinking back on it now, perhaps it was a demon who granted Eri’s prayer.